Conductor Jailed For Stealing Passenger’s Phone

An Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court on Thursday sentenced an 18-year old bus conductor, Henry James, to two weeks imprisonment for stealing a phone belonging to a passenger, Edem Udoh, of Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.

The convict was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to the theft charge.

The Police Prosecutor, Cpl. Silas Nanpan, had told the court that the crime was reported at the Nyanya Police Station on August 28 by the complainant.

Nanpan said the complainant had boarded the convict’s bus at Karu to Mogadishu Cantonment but alighted at Nyanya bridge when he discovered that his Nokia phone, valued at N9,500, was missing.

He said while searching for the phone in the bus, it was found with the conductor.

The offence contravened Section 287 of the Penal Code, the prosecutor said.

The convict, who pleaded guilty to the charge, begged the court to temper justice with mercy.

“I am begging that the court should have mercy on me. I was sick at the police station and as a result sold the stolen phone and used the money to buy drugs for my health,” the convict begged.